All about Amber: Long time no blogging

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged since October! That's ridiculous! Well, to somewhat catch you up from then to now, let's fast rewind/fast forward:

October-December:
I finished my 3rd block of elementary education. I completed all of my time in 1st grade at Northport Elementary School. I loved that placement and I loved those kids, but I was so ready to be done so I could begin my internship. I had a birthday in November. It was great! I got to eat my favorite Japanese!! Justin graduated on December 12th and we went on a cruise. Our cruise started out terrible, but it ended up great! When we got to Mobile, the port was closed for the day because it was so foggy. They didn't tell us until 9 that night that we would not be leaving until the next day. We were sad about that but we got a hotel room for the night and then we were able to sail out the next day. We had an amazing trip in Mexico. I just LOVE Cozumel! We did tons of shopping and eating local places. Unfortunately, we were not able to go to Calica because of the day delay we had. The trip back was a rough one because we were in a terrible cold front in the gulf which caused massive waves. They had to shut down some of the decks on the ship because the waves were so bad. I got so seasick but took plenty of Dramamine to get me better. After the cruise, we came back and I found out some unfortunate news about my uncle. He had chosen to end his life and I had to deal with that when I got home. I did have a great Christmas though! I got so much more than I could have ever imagined! Alabama won the SEC Championship (Tebow what?) We then won the National Championship against Texas!

January-March:
I began my first part of my internship. I was blessed to be placed at Faucett-Vestavia Elementary School. It is 1.5 miles from my house so I am literally there in 3 minutes! It's great! I started there in Kindergarten. I loved my students, but I quickly learned that Kindergarten wasn't for me. This really came as a surprise to me because I always thought that I would love it, but turns out it's not my thing! Now don't get me wrong, I would never turn down a Kindergarten position, I just have an extremely new found respect for Kindergarten teachers! I'm glad that I got to experience that. I taught reading every day and taught a few math, science, and social studies lessons throughout the time I was there. When I did my ten consecutive days of teaching I taught a ten day unit on time. I also taught a five day unit on Career Week and Dr. Seuss. March 5th was my last day there and I already miss those kids!

Now:
I am now placed in a 4th grade class at the same school. It has been a complete 360 from Kindergarten. Fourth grade was my favorite grade in elementary school so I think that experience will help me with this placement. I loved 4th grade so I think I will love teaching it. My students are great. I love that they all have their own personalities (some much stronger than others). I also have to stop myself from walking around the room and handing them tissues or asking if they need help with anything. It's just completely different from what I am used to. I LOVE my teacher that I am placed with. She is so nice and is such a great teacher. My class is 14 boys and 6 girls so you can imagine the chaos in there! She is such a great teacher though in that she can just look at them or just say "ok" and they will stop in their tracks and pay attention. I hope that by the end of my time there I can be HALF as good as that!

So, that is an extremely quick wrap up of what has been going on in my life. I hope all of your lives have been going well and hopefully it will not be this long again before I blog!!

Here are some of the cruise pictures!

Waiting at the Mobile port. We were so sad
that we had waited all this time and had to
sit here and wait!

Justin enjoying our first day on
the cruise! Ahh I can't wait to go back!

The beautiful inside lobby of the ship.

Since it was December, there was
Christmas and Hanukkah stuff everywhere!

Waiting on my Fuzzy Funship drink!
It was beyond delicious!

The pool area. It was strange to
be 80 degrees in December!

Told you it was delicious!

The creeper channel, my personal
favorite part of the ship! You could
turn it to this channel and watch people
walking around the decks. If you know
me personally, you know I loved it! lol